The Grigri is BEST when your sleeping while your partner is trying to get that A4 stack of pins to hold..... for a few hours, while you lie there in the nice warm sun and gently doze off to sleep sleep sleep........

Guy Keesee wrote: U need to ask????? The Grigri is BEST when your sleeping while your partner is trying to get that A4 stack of pins to hold..... for a few hours, while you lie there in the nice warm sun and gently doze off to sleep sleep sleep........ .............. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ BAM the thing goes tight...and wakes you up!!!!!!!!! 5+ pages of this .... carry on

Ha, I once mentioned that I've told a few n00bs to just let go of the damn thing if nothing else works and I'm about to go splat and got roasted by the forum safety patrol. I think it blew his mind.

Eric Chabot wrote: 30ft of rope zipped through the device before I could pull the brake and engage the cam. Luckily he was high on the route, so I got to learn my lesson with no injuries to my partner.

The device dident relock as soon as you let go of the override? The thing about the GriGri is if the rope zips through (for whatever reason) and you let go of the cam, it is designed to relock. You can try it on rap easily. Just crank open the handle, go into a free fall for a few feet, then let go of the handle. The device will lock and you will stop. Similarly, if lowering someone on TR or lead, you can crank down on the handle to open the cam (or pinch it open), allow the climber to go into a short free fall, let go of the cam, and the device will relock instantly. I see noobs at the crag doing this crap all the time because they think it's funny to "drop" their girlfriend a few feet.

Old lady H wrote: Even if the jump is before the rope is tensioned, at the start of the fall??? My main problem the few hours I spent trying, was that I couldn't get rope through fast enough, without the grigri jamming. I'm really short, so I have to be on my toes and move pretty fast to keep up with my climbers. Because of that, both hands are active, so in my case, I will stick with the ATC, for now.

Keep the GriGri from moving with your brake hand. Then, it won't jam when you're feeding the rope out.

There's no need to tension the rope, unless you need to catch them above something because they're run out from their protection. I hate when my belayer is scared of seeing someone fall a long way and they keep my rope short. I can feel every little pull while I'm moving--ANNOYING. It should feel like free soloing to the leader.

20 kN wrote: The device dident relock as soon as you let go of the override? The thing about the GriGri is if the rope zips through (for whatever reason) and you let go of the cam, it is designed to relock. You can try it on rap easily. Just crank open the handle, go into a free fall for a few feet, then let go of the handle. The device will lock and you will stop. Similarly, if lowering someone on TR or lead, you can crank down on the handle to open the cam (or pinch it open), allow the climber to go into a short free fall, let go of the cam, and the device will relock instantly. I see noobs at the crag doing this crap all the time because they think it's funny to "drop" their girlfriend a few feet.

Matthew Williams 1 wrote: You can feel how this works when you lower someone on a GriGri - it's still your brake hand controlling the descent just like an ATC - the handle on the device just opens the cam. The cam is designed to be an assist, that's all...

Yes. However when you lower someone with a GriGri, the rope is bent over the side of the GriGri, not coming straight out like when you belay. So there is less friction in the latter situation.

20 kN wrote: The device dident relock as soon as you let go of the override? The thing about the GriGri is if the rope zips through (for whatever reason) and you let go of the cam, it is designed to relock. You can try it on rap easily. Just crank open the handle, go into a free fall for a few feet, then let go of the handle. The device will lock and you will stop. Similarly, if lowering someone on TR or lead, you can crank down on the handle to open the cam (or pinch it open), allow the climber to go into a short free fall, let go of the cam, and the device will relock instantly. I see noobs at the crag doing this crap all the time because they think it's funny to "drop" their girlfriend a few feet.

Nope. As soon as I got a hand on the brake side of the rope it relocked instantly (my hand was only burned a tiny bit) but that 30 ft of rope went through quicker than you'd think. Was a skinnier sport climbing rope, not sure the diameter.

Maybe it's different when you are using the handle on rap since you aren't cranking the cam all the way open? In my case the cam was initially fully open when the rope started to slide.

Old lady, i recommend the gri-gri highly. Especially since it sounds like you are lighter than many of the people you climb with, it will be worth while to learn, and once you have the hand movements down you may even end up dumping the atc. Another thing that can also help you avoid short roping the leader is stepping forward and back when giving slack (stand too far back and you will get flung into the wall tho). Also make sure your climber communicates with you ("clipping!"). It can be tough on lower angled terrain where routes are often bolted with overhead clips in mind

@OldladyH: hi! As another small climber, i would say if you ever start climbing with much larger folks who are working a route, lots of big falls and long hangs, consider learning to use a gri-gri to avoid elbow or other arm injuries. I bought my first gri-gri after belaying someone nearly double my weight who was working sport routes, after realizing all the pain in my elbows was from belaying him. It really, really helped. And yes, it took me a bit longer to be as proficient with giving healthy lead slack with the gri-gri vs. the atc but well worth reducing the elbow wear and tear. Ive also found it helpful to know how to use multiple belay devices well.

20 kN wrote: The thing about the GriGri is if the rope zips through (for whatever reason) and you let go of the cam, it is designed to relock. You can try it on rap easily. Just crank open the handle, go into a free fall for a few feet, then let go of the handle. The device will lock and you will stop. Similarly, if lowering someone on TR or lead, you can crank down on the handle to open the cam (or pinch it open), allow the climber to go into a short free fall, let go of the cam, and the device will relock instantly. I see noobs at the crag doing this crap all the time because they think it's funny to "drop" their girlfriend a few feet.

One question. Is this always true? It is easy to belay with a grigri much like one does with an ATC. i.e. slide the rope through. I thought a grigri locked because the rope on the brake side was accelerating. In the cases you mention, they are accelerating. if however they are descending a slab - or because the belayer is hold the rope and suffering burns they might not be accelerating, and the grigri not lock.

Old lady H wrote:Part of the probkem has to do with short arms, which can translate to mucg less rope per feed, and needing more, faster movements to keep up with taller climbers.

It has nothing to do with the length of your arms or the height of the climber - only with the speed of upward progress of the climber and perhaps the need for fast clips. Stop trying to blame everything on your stature.